An Ecofeminist Interpretation Of The Secret Life Of Bees

The Secret Life of Bees is Sue Monk Kidd's debut novel. It has won the hearts of reviewers and readers alike with its strong, assured voice. As a bildungsroman, or coming-of-age novel, The Secret Life of Bees presents the development and maturation of the protagonist, Lily Owens. Having experienced a series of events, at the end of the novel, Lily has taken a proactive role in her own life, on her way to maturity and to becoming a woman. Scholars home and abroad commented on the book and studied it from various perspective. However, there are no thorough studies about the author Kidd's ecofeminist insights embodied in this novel in terms of Ecofeminist theory and criticism.Therefore, this thesis is an attempt to interpret this novel in the light of the cofeminist theory and criticism. Focusing on the exploration of a white girl----Lily's maturation, this thesis aims to show the intimate tie between women and nature on the one hand----hey are interrelievable and interdependent and on the other hand, they are both subjugated and dominated by men in the patriarchal culture. And the core of the ecofeminist criticism is the celebration of the harmonious relationships between human beings and nature, the critique of the patriarchal culture leading to the dual domination of nature and women, and the attempt to reconstruct a harmonious society.The paper is divided into five parts as follows:Introduction presents a brief biography of Sue Monk Kidd and a brief introduction of The Secret Life of Bees and the previous critical reviews on this novel.Chapter One A Brief Introduction to Ecofeminism first gives a general introduction to the ecofeminist theory and the ecofeminist literary criticism. It serves as a theoretical basis for the further discussion. Then, it shows the possibilities of analyzing The Secret Life of Bees in the light of the ecofeminist theory.Chapter Two Crises faced by Both Nature and Women explores the relationships between man and nature and between men and women in The Secret Life of Bees. After such an analysis, it pionts out that the root of the fact that both nature and women are subjugated and dominated by men is the patriarchal culture.Chapter Three Resistance from Both Nature and Women further expounds the resistance of nature and women in face of the subjugation in The Secret Life of Bees. Nature takes revenge on humans while women pursue self-reliance and self-perfection by ways of making themselves part of nature and deconstrucing the patriarchal culture. They aim to reconstruct a harmonious society in which humans and nature can cohabitate healthily.Conclusion summarizes the thesis and points out that the ecofeminists today criticize the patriarchal culture leading to the dual domination of nature and women. However, their final goal is the reconstruction of a harmonious society, which is expected to be the solution to the spiritual crisis faced by man in the 21st century.